


Shine Brighter than Anyone

by royal_chandler



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Domestic, Fluff, Implied Mpreg, Kid Fic, M/M, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-15
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-03-07 12:53:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3174246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/royal_chandler/pseuds/royal_chandler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joanna’s blue gaze flicks up from her boots and her slightly trembling pout yanks at him. It’s exactly why Bones is the disciplinary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shine Brighter than Anyone

When Jim is called out of alpha shift almost four hours in, he gives Sulu the conn in a voice that is more shaky than commanding.

The alert isn’t an emergency type but it’s from the ship’s educating quarters so it might as well be. On the lift, Jim instinctively thinks to contact Bones but he doesn’t, probably for the same reason that Ensign Rodriguez didn’t, considering that Bones is tending to actual health crises in the sickbay. And Joanna’s not one of those crises so it can’t be too big a deal, whatever’s happening with her, but that logic doesn’t slow Jim’s pace down the halls or the pace of his heart.

The pneumatic door to the offices slides open to reveal his little girl sitting on a chair that is clearly for kids that are _in trouble_.

Joanna’s blue gaze flicks up from her boots and her slightly trembling pout yanks at him. It’s exactly why Bones is the disciplinary.

“Captain Kirk,” says Rodriguez, clearing his throat and snapping Jim to attention. He steps around his desk and puts out a hand. “I’m sorry to have taken you out of your shift but I do thank you for coming.”

Jim nods and gives a small smile, shaking his hand briefly. “Just staring out into an endless field of space so you didn’t draw me away from anything too exciting.” He cuts a look to Joanna and back. “What’s going on here?”

“We had a problem during show and tell today,” Rodriguez explains. “Joanna was a tad disruptive and was unwilling to listen during the other children’s presentations.” He says it politely, Jim can tell, can see that he’s nervous in the way he holds his hands in a tight and unmoving clasp before him. “Considering that this isn’t the first time, I thought it best to bring you in.”

And that’s completely new. Jim regards him questioningly. “This isn’t the first time? Why didn’t you notify Doctor McCoy or I previously?”

“I sent notifications to you and Doctor McCoy,” Rodriguez says. “Three in the past couple of weeks.”

“We didn’t get them,” Jim replies. Otherwise, they would have dealt with the situation immediately.

“They can be intercepted, sir,” Rodriguez says carefully.

Jim regards his daughter in disbelief. “Jo?” When she doesn’t answer to that, her pout now set in a deep scowl, not dissimilar to her father’s, “Joanna Lindley. Answer me.”

“You didn’t ask a question,” she mumbles, kicking out a foot with her chin tucked in.

“I’m sorry?” Jim responds sternly because yeah, he doesn’t like having to punish his kid, hates it but he doesn’t allow himself to be walked over either. “You have one more try, young lady. You better get it right.”

“I deleted the messages from your PADDs,” she admits quietly.

“I had her apologize to her classmates,” Rodriguez starts. “I guessed that this would be your first time hearing about it so I figured to go with a warning instead of anything more severe.”

“Did she apologize to you?” Jim asks.

Rodriguez’s face heats, his young blue face tinting purple. “It’s not necessary, sir.”

“Of course it is. She’s not going to get away with disrespecting you.” Jim looks at Joanna expectantly and she crosses over to them, stands at his side.

“I’m very sorry, Ensign Rodriguez,” she says small, shamed and Jim softens, places his hand on her dark head.

The smile that Rodriguez gives Joanna is the most at ease Jim has seen him since entering the office. It’s obvious that he’s found his calling. Gently, he says, “It’s quite alright, Joanna. We’ll do better next time, yes?”

Joanna nods, sniffling.

“I’m going to leave you with your father but you are more than welcome to return to class if you’d like,” Rodriguez tells her kindly.

“Thank you,” Jim says before the ensign exits.

As soon as he’s gone, Joanna’s sniffling turns into tears that are all too real and she’s a heartbreaking mess at his side. “Oh, baby. Joanna.” He lifts her up into his arms, even at seven she still fits with no problem. Jim presses a long and comforting kiss to her temple. “It’s okay, baby. You’re alright.”

He walks out with her, his hand sweeping her back.

…

By the time he gets Joanna’s tear-stained face clean and she’s no longer crying into his shoulder, it’s halfway through lunch so he decides to visit Bones.

Joanna, now on her own feet, looks at him in alarm, her eyes wide when she gets a hint of their destination.

"Papa…" she drawls ominously.

"We talked about this, Jo."

"You didn’t say right now."

"Yeah because if I had those waterworks would’ve never turned off," Jim says. He squeezes her hand and gives a grin. "Trust me, sunshine, as someone who has a lengthy history of getting in trouble with your dad, and your grandmother for that fact, lunchtime is the best time to face the prosecution."

He’s proven right when they enter the sickbay, find Bones far away from the active nurses and doctors. He’s hidden behind his monitor and what looks to be a BLT. “Aww, he’s in his happy place. You’re in luck, kiddo.”

Joanna doesn’t seem too convinced but she bravely marches on still.

“Hey you two,” Bones greets, with a raised brow. He puts down his sandwich cautiously, wipes at his mouth with a napkin. “This is a surprise.”

“And we all know how much you love those,” Jim says fondly. He bends to give Bones a kiss, a quick brush of lips so the doctor won’t complain about inappropriate public displays of affection.

“When it comes to my little girl, it’s not too awful. Might throw you in as well,” Bones says. A sincere smile arrives on his face and Jim doesn’t think that he’ll ever be unmoved by it. “C’mere, peaches,” he addresses their daughter. “Sorry I didn’t get to help drop you off this morning. Missed you.”

“Missed you more, Daddy,” Joanna says, making her way onto her father’s lap. It’s Jim’s favorite sight in the universe, and even with a captain’s eye, nothing has ever or will ever come close.

“Do I get to know why you’re not in class?” Bones asks, carding his fingers through Joanna’s hair and she curls into the touch. The same way she has since she surprised them with her arrival a few years into their first five-year mission.

“I got in trouble,” she murmurs. "I’m sorry.”

Impressively, Bones doesn’t lose his cool. Instead tells her to go on, which she does.

“Wow. Chekov is no longer a viable babysitter for you,” Jim decides after she explains how she learned to intercept messages. He leans back on his husband’s desk and folds his arms across his chest. “I’m all for genius but not the undermining type.”

Bones snorts. “I’d better get the miss and I out of lightning range.”

Jim shrugs, touching the tip of Joanna’s nose, to see the cute scrunch, mostly for the reluctant smile. Get her out of her head. “Monkey say, monkey do.”

Bones laughs, amused. “You honestly think that you’re helping yourself with that analogy?”

" _Anyway_ ," Jim segues. "My big concern isn’t what you did, but why you did it, Jo."

Because Jim keeps wondering where he fucked up. Seeing his daughter alone, isolated in time out, it reminded Jim so much of his childhood and it’s the last thing he wants for her. All of the worries that were usually kept at the back of his mind came to the forefront. Jim hasn’t changed. Not entirely. It’s not as prevalent but he hasn’t totally abandoned his reckless ways and he’s still quick to anger. He’s more than a repeat offender, he knows that, but it’s not a history that just disappears. He’s terrified that it’s found a way to his sweet kid, despite her having he and Bones, them loving her unconditionally.

"I’m curious about that as well," Bones agrees and Jim isn’t sure how long Bones’ gaze had been on him but it switches back to Joanna. "We haven’t been raising you like that. You know better."

"I know," she says.

"Then what’s going on, Joanna?" Bones wonders, he softly nudges her head with his.

She speaks under her breath, a noise so vague that Jim isn’t too sure that Uhura would be able to decipher it.

“I don’t think that I’m going deaf,” Jim says, making a funny face and tugging on his ear.

She doesn’t speak up immediately but her tone is a lot more clear when she does.

“I want the boy in class to like me.”

And god, Jim doesn’t know if that’s better or worse than what he was expecting.

Bones is sputtering but he soon gathers himself enough to sound incredulous. “You acted out for a boy?!”

“You have a crush on someone, Jo?” His voice gets a little high but he doesn’t care because this is his baby and she’s growing up so freaking fast. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

She frowns and wrings her fingers in the hem of her skirt. “It’s weird and it’s stupid.”

Jim chuckles at that, gets closer to cup her cheek and meet her eyes. “It can be yeah but it’s okay too. Whatever you like, or don’t like, it’s cool with me and your dad.”

She perks up a bit. “Really?”

“Really, Joanna,” Bones tells her. Thoughtfully, he adds, “The only thing that we don’t like is you changing yourself to get somebody’s attention.”

“Yeah, that’s not cool,” Jim says, nodding. This is a lesson that’s important for her to understand, one they should reinforcing all of the time because they don’t ever want her feeling inferior. “We don’t want you to ever do that. Don’t be anything less than who you are. You are a peach, Joanna. Perfect. Anyone who doesn’t like you just the way you are is a tool.”

“Jim.”

“What? You disagree?”

“Course not,” Bones responds with a huff. “But she can’t go around calling her peers tools, no matter how true that may be. Joanna, just—ugh, just don’t go around acting like an idiot to impress an idiot, alright? It’s not becoming.”

Joanna laughs at that, because like her papa, she thinks that Bones is hilarious. “Okay, Daddy. I won’t do it again.”

Jim darts forward to kiss her forehead. “That’s our supergirl.” He scoops her up and places her on her feet. “Alright, I think that your dad has to get back to work because M’Benga is giving us some serious stink eye right now. Do you want to head back to the bridge with me until the end of my shift or go back to class?”

Firmly and with a demeanor well past her years, she says, “Go back to class.”

Jim takes in her arms formed akimbo at her side, her beaming smile that’s missing a tooth, the smattering of freckles on her nose, and her bright, bright eyes. Pride swells in his chest; his heart does flips. “God, you’re so awesome.”


End file.
